William Leather believed he was a descendant of John Leather, the Dead Ranger (the Wildstorm universe's Lone Ranger, as showing in Issue 22). John Leather had a son, Bret Leather, on January 1, 1900, making him a Century Baby. Bret grew up to take the role of The Spider. The Wildstorm Spider borrows from three pulp legends: The Green Hornet (primarily based on that character's familial ties to The Lone Ranger), The Shadow (with the guns and fedora), and another pulp character also named The Spider (from whom the name, and probably fangs, were borrowed). Bret Leather is not the true father of William Leather--William was the product of an illicit affair, so there is no blood relationship.

The Spider believed that there was a natural law that he intuitively understood, but also had been taught to respect the laws of the land by his father. But based on the one solo tale we've heard of The Spider (from Issue 22) it would appear that The Spider was a maniacal, possibly unbalanced figure. He died with Brass and the rest in the Adirondacks while defending earth from an inter-dimensional invasion that Brass' team had inadvertently brought about.